Unlike Rietveld’s complex interplay of layered planes, the Eameses, looking towards more commercial approaches to middle-class housing, created something more like the box that Rietveld was trying to escape.
— ft.com

Given the hip-hop elite's affiliation with prestige brands – from Cristal to Courvoisier, from Louis Vuitton to Lamborghini – you'd think they'd be similarly discerning when it comes to architecture. But that's not always the case, especially when it comes to the biggest stars of all.
— guardian.co.uk

Charles and Ray Eames, designers of the classic Eames lounge chair and major contributors to 20th century architecture and furniture designs, also dabbled in the mediums of film and animation. The Information Machine, sponsored by IBM, attempted to explain how and why the computer revolution was occurring and how it benefited regular people who, at that time, may not have ever even seen one in person.
— gizmodo.com

As Cube would say, "today was a good day". Not only does Oscar Niemeyer turn an astounding 104 years old today, but the late/great Ray Eames was also born 99 years ago today. Somebody get my credit card, I need to buy some candles. View full entry »

In the late ’80s, before he became famous as a member of the Compton, Calif., gangsta-rap group N.W.A., Ice Cube studied architectural drafting at a trade school in Arizona. This biographical detail makes the rapper’s appearance in a new video celebrating midcentury design icons Charles and Ray Eames only slightly less incongruous.
— NYT

Ice Cube drives Inglewood blvd. describing the Los Angeles that he knows. He talks of landmarks like The Forum, Five Torches, Cockatoo Inn, Brolly Hut, and Watts Towers. He refers to the 110 as "Gangsta Highway". Cube says coming from South Central LA teaches you how to be resourceful. The video... View full entry »

...the most gratifying thing about “Eames” is that it shows, in marvelous detail, how their work was an extension of themselves and how their distinct personalities melded into a unique and protean force. The film is also appropriately busy and abundant: full of objects, information, stories and people, organized with hectic elegance.
— movies.nytimes.com

All over Los Angeles, the places where artists, architects and engineers were busy in the postwar years inventing the future are being recast as monuments and historical shrines.

This new attitude toward the city's recent heritage can be seen in increasingly visible battles over the fate of postwar landmarks like Richard Neutra's Kronish House in Beverly Hills and in nascent efforts to preserve and display artifacts from the early years of the computer and aerospace industries in Los Angeles.
— latimes.com

This ad for mega-exhibition Pacific Standard Time has been floating around for a few days and the bad news is it's not an actual campaign image. The good news is that Ice Cube's celebration of Ray and Charles Eames is totally real. A rep for PST tells us this ad is "an unapproved rough concept" that was leaked, but she adds that "The ads for the campaign featuring Ice Cube and Eames will be released in the coming weeks."
— la.curbed.com